The rule of thumb for large and unusual medical procedures is to call your employer's insurance company or consult the plan's website before you incur...

Just 15 years ago, if you'd seen one employee group health and benefits plan in Canada, you pretty well had seen them all. "They were designed for the average worker, which was considered to be a man with a non-working spouse," says Graeme Simpson, professor and program coordinator of Humber College's HR postgraduate program.

But companies began to wake up to the fact that their health and benefits plans no longer addressed the reality of their changing and diverse workforce. Some started revisiting their plans, in part to do the right thing, in part, because they realized that benefits could be a tool to recruit and retain employees. Those revisions occurred gradually over time, and many employers continue to see benefits within the narrow scope of life insurance, disability, health and vision and dental – but little more.

"With an ever increasing diverse workforce, benefits plans are becoming more complex to meet the needs, wants and expectations of that workforce, so we're seeing increased flexibility, more choice within benefits programs," says Brian Lindenberg, a partner at Mercer's health and benefits consulting business. "Individual compensation from employers isn't just pay. It's pay, pension, benefits and all investments such as training that represent an employee's total rewards package. So why not allow an individual the flexibility to design their own total rewards package? You have X amount of money to spend, so you can trade money from one bucket into another bucket. It allows an individual more flexibility to design their own total rewards. That's what we're moving towards."

Still, perspective is needed. Only about 30% of companies today offer truly flexible plans, says Mr. Simpson, but this number is likely to continue increasing in the coming years as the war for talent escalates with changing demographics.

"I think consumerism in general is one of the things demanding these changes," says John Salmond, AVP of Marketing and Product Development, Group Benefits, Manulife Financial. "Consumers today are very savvy. We're seeing a move toward even more personalized plans. There are even personal insurance solutions, for example, for the increasingly mobile workforce we have today that you can buy at a group level but take with you when you move on with your career to another employer."

In addition to more flexibility, the evolution of employee health and benefits plans has been towards offering far more than traditional health, dental and vision—with a strong trend towards wellness programs that experts believe will continue to keep expanding.

"It's pretty clear that companies are finding their competitive advantages even in technologies, and management systems get competed away very quickly," says Michael Rouse, assistant professor, Ivey School of Business. "So they're realizing that strategically their greatest competitive advantage is their people, because productivity and innovation come from your people. And they're investing in their people as a result."

Enter wellness and employee assistance programs. Originally introduced to reduce absenteeism, wellness programs today are really about helping to optimize benefits plans, says Salmond. Investing in the health and wellbeing of employees through programs to encourage healthier lifestyles or employee assistance programs that offer support to employees through challenging times reduces costs for the employer in the long-term through higher productivity, a healthier, less stressed workforce with less absenteeism and disability leaves. The expansion of the offerings of EA programs is likely to continue as well, say the experts. Shepell·fgi, one of the biggest EA providers in Canada, today offers counselling and support for everything from psychological issues to addictions, family planning and daycare, legal, financial and career and retirement issues.

Not all companies are convinced that wellness programs are worth the investment. And, while 74% of large companies in North America have wellness programs, "In many cases, their wellness program is just a flu shot clinic," says Mr. Rouse.

Numerous studies over the years have concluded comprehensive wellness programs have a significant return on investment for employers. A 2010 Harvard University meta-analysis of the literature on costs and savings associated with wellness programs found the ROI on medical costs was $3.27 for every dollar, for example.

But there's a catch. Mr. Rouse and his team at Ivey have done their own research and uncovered that almost all the studies done to date had no control group, which means that scientifically, it's impossible to know if the ROI figures we have today are accurate or not. "So we are embarking on a treatment/control group study. It's the first of its kind. We have four companies signed up already but we're looking for more," says Mr. Rouse. Funded by Sun Life Financial, the two-year study will follow two groups of employees at each company, one with a wellness plan and one without.

"Finally, we're going to have some hard facts on the ROI of wellness programs," says Mr. Rouse.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.